Of Towers and Damsels
by Mistress of Sarcasm
Summary: Let the prince come to the rescue. She's already saved herself.


I got inspired for this by reading Aqauloner's _The Tale_. It's really good, you should read it. But first, read mine, okay?

Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.

* * *

Let a wicked witch lock her in a high tower. 

(_Sakura'll smash the walls down, crumble the chains that hold her into dust. She'll break the heavy wooden door that blocks her with a flick of her wrist, shatter the sturdy stones the witch used to build her prison into pebbles, spewing out of the gaping wreckage of what could not hold Sakura. She will not sit quiet in the high room, weaving her broken dreams into a drab quilt to cover her at night, waiting achingly for her hair to grow long enough for the prince to climb up it and rescue her. Long hair means conditioning and washing and drying for hours under a hot sun. Long hair means competition and rivalry and pointless angry. Sakura has her acknowledgement. Long hair means something for the prince to grab onto, to hold her back from the fight, to tie her down and keep her at his side, no better than the chains of the witch's tower. Sakura likes her hair short._)

Let a dragon come to take her.

(_Tenten'll shatter the iron scales that shield it with a thousand thousand knives, forged in a fire rivaling the beasts. She'll spin up into the sky with cloth and wire and metal dancing around and fling it back down like deadly rain. She'll twist and turn and spin and flicker until even the dragon is helpless and lost in her enticing movements, her dance of death in the sky. Her blades are sharp as any dragon's fang, her knives are hard as any dragon's claw, her mind is swift as any dragon's wing. She will slice and tear and rip and break until the dragon's defenses, its scales and fangs and wing and claws are all stripped away to nothing, and the dragon is as weak and useless as it supposed her to be. Tenten's sword will run red with her own blood before she surrenders to anyone, before she will be a willing captive in the claws of the beast. It won't come to that though. Tenten has her own fangs, after all._)

Let a hungry wolf stalk in her the woods.

(_Ino is a child of the Leaf. She was raised among the whisper of the wind in trees and the crunch of bark beneath her foot. She is a kinsman of the towering birches and red maples and quiet elms. If any wolf dares to cross her path in her native heart, she will stand on her steady legs and sneer as the wolf bares its fangs. She'll raise her hands and slam her mind into the creature's, twist and turn and change and alter until it doesn't know itself anymore. She will decay it from the inside out, corrupt its very essence and watch the wolf's mind fester and run thick with her poison. No wolf, nor bear, nor wolverine will sate its hunger on Ino. She is a child of the forest, swift and untouchable as the wind._)

Let a jealous queen offer her a poison apple.

(_Hinata will strike the fruit from her hand, pumping her chakra into it and exploding it, showering then in a rain of venom and juice. She'll lower into her guard, hands glowing and eyes ablaze, grim line set onto her lips. She'll toss back her ebony hair and purse her ruby lips and look at the queen in the guise of an old peddler with eyes that see all, and scoff at the pitiful attempt. She dart forward and jab and punch and prod and undo the queen's feeble magic, undo the spell weaved in a fit of jealousy. She'll drive a chakra-wreathed hand into the dead center of the queen's chest and watch her fall with cold eyes. She'll storm away from the Seven Dwarves as they return home, and reclaim her kingdom with a flick of her snow-white wrist. Hinata needs no true love's kiss to change her destiny. Perhaps only its confidence in her._)

* * *

Let the curses be cast, let the Black Knights come.

Let the kingdoms fall, let sorceresses cackle.

Let the maidens weep, and the princesses fall under, and wait for their princes to save them.

* * *

(_Sakura splits the earth clean in two to expose the enemy for Tenten's knives as Ino's mental grip holds a man captive and helpless to Hinata's chakra strike to his heart._)

* * *

Princesses?

Oh no.

Those are _kunoichi_.

* * *

I really like how this turned out. See if you can guess why I put Sakura in the tower (I think that one is obvious) Tenten against a dragon, Ino being stalked by a wolf, and Hinata being offered the poison apple. And in each case, see if you can guess what (or who-hinthint-) each 'opponent' represents. 

I hope you enjoyed it.

MoS


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